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"and al maner mynistralsie

that any man kan specifye;" and when his recitals of

"Deeds of arms and of amour" warmed his hearers far more than the mead cup or wine flagon which circulated through the lofty hall, or even the huge brands which blazed and sparkled on the wide-spread hearth.

Of these Romances, that of Perceval is of European interest, the first authorship of which is attributed to Kyot or Guiot of Provence, whose work no longer exists, except in the Norman version of Chrestien de Troyes, who again is accused by Wolfram von Eschenbach, the author of the German Perceval, of spoiling the story. Goerres and other German critics regard the original Perceval as the commencement, and not the least important portion, of that mystic cycle of romance on the subject of the "Holy Graal," of which Titurel forms the very centre or jewel; and which is completed by the Lohengrin. With this, however, the English Romance has little to do, for in it the great work of Chrestien (upwards of 20,000 lines) is reduced to about one tenth of the size, while the story is oc

casionally related with an approach to humour, of which the following passage, in which Sir Perceval is described as striking off the head of a giant, is not the worst specimen : "Sythen his hede gan he off hafe; He was an unhende knave, A geant berde so to schafe,

For sothe als I say !"

This Romance is printed from the Thornton MS. at Lincoln; as is also the second Romance, Sir Isumbras, of which an edition was printed by Copland and reprinted by Mr. Utterson. The next Romance, Sir Eglamour, elegantly analysed by the late George Ellis in his "Early English Metrical Romances," is here printed from a Cambridge manuscript. This is the case also with Sir Degrevant, the fourth and last, and in many respects most interesting, in the collection. It is certainly unequalled for the glimpses which it affords us of the manners of the times, and the state of society at the period when it was written. Had the work been published with miniated pictures, such as perhaps existed in some copies of the MSS. of this Romance, it could scarcely have afforded us such vivid pictures of the costume, architecture, cookery, and domestic arrangements, such minute touches of every-day life, as are furnished by the musical and frequently alliterative verses of the author. As a representation of manners, a sketch of society, it is really unrivalled; while it exhibits no few traces of the hand of an artist and the feeling of a poet. Surely there is something exquisitely pathetic in the following confession of his love, which Degrevant makes to his 'squire, and in his avowal that he loved the lady "for herself alane."

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Mr. Halliwell has appended to this volume Glossarial Notes upon such words as he deemed to stand in need of explanation, and in his Introduction has entered at some length into the history of each Romance, its connexion with similar productions in the early literature of the Continent, and its bearing upon the general history of fiction. The book is, in our opinion, by far the best edited that Mr. Halliwell has yet put forth; and we most cordially congratulate that gentleman and the Camden Society upon their respective shares, in making this valuable addition to our stores of Early English Literature.

THE HOMILIES of the Anglo-SAXON CHURCH. The Homilies of Elfric, with an English Translation. By Benjamin Thorpe, Esq., F.S.A. Parts I., II., ÌIÍ., IV., and V. (Printed for the Ælfric Society.) 8vo. pp. 624.

WE can recommend this work to our readers, not more for its theological interest-although that is most considerable, from the illustration which it affords of the state, views, doctrine, and discipline of the AngloSaxon Church-than for its importance in illustrating the philology of our noble Germanic tongue, which was spoken by a Jeremy Taylor no less than a Shakspere, by a Barrow as well as a Milton.

The volume contains no fewer than forty Homilies, which form the first portion of the well-known manuscript in the Public Library at Cambridge, which has been supposed to be Ælfric's autograph copy. The author compiler of these Sermones Catholici,

or

(for his share in the work is not now to be ascertained) was, in Mr. Thorpe's opinion, not Ælfric the Archbishop of Canterbury, but Elfric Archbishop of York, who presided over that see from the year 1023 to 1051; and, as in the work before us, the editor has furnished us with a faithful transcript of what he believes to be the most complete manuscript, “and a conscientiously correct translation of that transcript, as literal as his acquaintance with the language and his notions of good taste permitted," he is fully justified in giving expression to the "hope, that

such a translation, though unattended by a commentary, will be regarded with interest by the members of each of the great communities into whtch the Christian world is divided."

Many readers will, we suspect, object that the language of the translation is too Latinized. But, on the other hand, Mr. Thorpe would plead, and probably with success, that he was unable to introduce many purely Saxon expressions, not because they had changed their original meaning, but because they are now so generally regarded as vulgarisms that their introduction would have been prejudicial to his work by giving an air of vulgarity to his translation, quite at variance with the scholar-like character of the Saxon original.

Mr. Thorpe pronounces his work "the firstfruit of the praiseworthy attempt of the Elfric Society to rescue from oblivion the literary remains of our forefathers," and adds that it "was selected for the earliest publicaits valuable matter and the manner in tion of the society, on account both of which it is conveyed."

We can bear witness that the book fully justifies such selection; and we when the "incurious disregard" with trust that the day is at length arrived which Sir James Macintosh charged the English nation "as having hitherto treated the literary monuments of their forefathers," has given way to a laudable anxiety for their preservation; and that such support will be given to the Elfric Society by those whose station and circumstances enable them to do so, that the great objects for which the society was instituted may be realized, by the publication of a uni

form Collection of the Literary Reof that great desideratum, a complete mains of the Anglo-Saxons,-in short, CORPUS A NGLO-SAXONUM.

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only by his appearance in most of the associations intended for its advancement, either as an actual or an honorary member, but more particularly in the title-pages of various publications, which must be accounted, even by himself, rather by their number than their importance. He has now attempted a far more laborious task, one indeed which, even if unsuccessful, might, from its magnitude, be deemed to merit the praise allowed to great failures :

magnis tamen excidit ausis. And if the extent of the undertaking be great, so also in many respects is its difficulty; nor is his boldness lessened by the circumstance that a similar work was commenced only a few years ago by two very eminent and experienced antiquaries, and abandoned at an early stage of its progress.

The present work is put forward to supply the alleged deficiency of any "general dictionary of the early English language." A glossary to Chaucer has long existed, and more erudite glossaries have been since supplied by Sir Frederic Madden and others to various ancient writers. Still more recently, the Camden Society has obliged the world with the first portion of an invaluable work, Mr. Way's edition of the Promptorium Parvulorum. There are various Provincial glossaries for the relics of local dialects, and a "General Dictionary of Provincialisms" has been compiled by Mr. William Holloway, in an octavo volume.

From these sources, and from his own reading, Mr. Halliwell has undertaken to compile his General Dictionary of the early-English language, intended, it may be presumed, to combine the obsolete words of all periods and all dialects.

Such a work, executed by a philologist determined to develope the history of the language, might, if performed with intelligence and judgment, be of the highest value: a dictionary which

* Boucher's Glossary of Archaic and Provincial Words: edited by the Rev. Joseph Hunter and Joseph Stevenson, esq. Parts I. and II.

This class of books is now very numerous; as may be seen in the Bibliogra. phical List of them published by Mr. Russell Smith.

gave as it were the descent and genealogy of our language, might be compared to a magnificent temple, perfect in all its parts; Mr. Halliwell's Dictionary we can only assimilate to a tessellated pavement, or a patchwork counterpane. Contenting himself with putting toge. ther an alphabet of archaisms, provincialisms, technicalisms, and solecisms, with a sprinkling of "proverbs" and "customs," he performs a task not very different to those wherein he has previously distinguished himself, whilst editing his multifarious succession of libretti, and, it must be feared, as totally deficient of any definite design or substantial conclusion.

The plan proposed in the selection of words, and their treatment, is as follows:

"It is intended, within as moderate a compass as possible, to give a large collection of those obsolete and provincial words which are most likely to be useful, without extending the size and cost of the work by etymological or other similar researches; and while care is taken to establish, as far as possible, the correct meanings of the words, to avoid discussion on subjects that would be interesting only to the professed etymologist. It is not of course proposed to exclude etymology, but merely to render it subservient in the way of explanation, and not allow it to occupy too much space."

Here, it will be seen, are announced four characteristics for the Dictionary: 1. a moderate compass, size, cost, and space; 2. general utility; 3. accuracy; 4. a little gentle dalliance with etymology. These stipulations are on the whole unexceptionable; but we are much disposed to conclude that a more faithful devotion to the charms of Etymology would have conduced to the accomplishment of all the other ends proposed, to greater accuracy, greater utility, and greater economy of space and cost.

The plain fact is, that Mr. Halliwell is the victim of a very extraordinary passion. Whilst sparing of his attentions to the decent and orderly nymph, Etymology, he is absolutely enamoured of a very ugly and decrepid old witch, named Cacography, every wrinkle of whose haggard face he is desirous to immortalise on a perpetual canvas; though, with the usual capriciousness of her sex and age, the old lady says she is deter

mined to disappoint him. In fact, so different an aspect do her features assume every day, that we have reason to believe he will at length despair in his enterprise, though for the present the rapid growth of this Archaic Dictionary has blinded his eyes to the frightful features it has derived from his lady-patroness. Even already he admits that "it may be objected that too many obviously corrupt forms have been admitted."

To exemplify Mr. Halliwell's mode of limning the grimaces of his aged beauty, we need only refer to any one page of his Dictionary; but to do so in the way of extract we will take two words, the ramifications of which will occupy fully as much space as we can afford. They are abashed and abie. The former is still so common a word that it perhaps might have been omitted altogether; but Mr. Halliwell thinks differently, and he has accordingly presented it under the following phases or "forms :"

-

"ABAISCHITE. Ashamed.

ABAISSED. Ashamed; abashed.
ABAIST. The same as Abaissed.
ABASCHED. Abashed; ashamed.
ABASSCHT. Abashed.
ABAST. Downcast.
ABAYSCHID. Frightened.
ABAYSSHETTE. Abashed.
ABAYST. Disappointed.
ABAYSTE. Abashed."

be

Here are ten entries of a single word; and if ten are admitted, with such slight varieties, we may sure that others of at least equal claim (and possibly as many in number,) must be away,-others which are as likely to occur to those who may refer to the Archaic Dictionary, as the "forms" which happen to have occurred to Mr. Halliwell in the course of his own reading.

For example, under ABASSCHт, he has given a passage in which the word is written abasshed; why should he not have entered that as well as ABASCHED?

Again, he explains "ABAY SCHID, Frightened," on the authority of the Promptorium Parvulorum; but the "form" in that dictionary is " Abaschyd." Why then, did not ABASCHYD make yet a twelfth entry in Mr. Halliwell's columns ?

"ABASCHYD, or aferde; territus, perterritus. Prompt. Pary."

It may appear trifling in us to discuss, or even to point out, the meaning of Abashed, which will be found in any pocket abridgment of Johnson: but our object is to show Mr. Halliwell: 1. The utter hopelessness of collecting every "form" of spelling; and, 2. The want of exactness of explanation consequent upon the neglect of arrangement, and a deduction of secondary senses from the primary,in short, how that, in neglecting Etymology, he is neglecting his best friend.

His ten entries of this word, which Occupy in the Dictionary nineteen lines of explanation, and thirty-six lines of example, in all fifty-five lines, are to our minds thrown away in any dictionary containing the verb of which it is a participle.

The old-English orthographies above enumerated are, in reality, interesting proofs how our two words abase and abash are both descendants of the French word originally engrafted into our language whilst the i or y was retained in Abaissed, or Abayschid, &c. it was in fact an English participle formed on a French verb.

That French verb, Abaisser, is most closely resembled in English by Abase : and this last word we find Mr. Halliwell has given with six lines of explanation. And again under ABESSE with six more, in addition to the fifty-five already enumerated. Now, might not all that was necessary have been comprised in about six lines, sparing the other sixty? something in this way:

ABASE, to bring down, to humble, Fr. abaisser, from à and bas. Hence abaissed (Piers Ploughman), abaischite, (Morte d'Arthur), abasched (MS. Cantab. Ff. ii. 38, f. 109), [Modern, abashed.] &c. &c. Cast down, as with shame or fear; disappointed.

But if not in six, at most in twentysix lines, the word (if really to be deemed obsolete) might have been fully explained: with all the important examples, and with references from such "forms" of spelling as might possibly baffle an inquirer. This would have tended materially to the proposed purpose of conciseness and economy of space.

Then, with a view to "the correct meanings of the words," Mr. Halliwell would have found it a material assistance if he had determined to de

duce secondary meanings from primary, and to have informed his readers (if by arrangement only, that would frequently be sufficient,) why the same word, which originally meant "lowered " and generally means “ashamed,” sometimes means "frightened," sometimes “disappointed," &c. Lastly, in giving examples of several senses, care should be taken that each example be applicable to the sense defined.

In these important respects we have but a bad account to give of Mr. Halliwell. His sense of "frightened" is taken, as we have already shown, from the Promptorium Parvulorum, but his example of ABAYSCHID is the following from Wickliffe's New Testament: "And anoon the damysel roos and walkide and sche was of twelve yeer, and thei weren abayschid with a great stoneyng.

Here there is no authority for the interpretation "frightened;" if we look to the original, καὶ ἐξέστησαν ἐκoráσei peyáλn (Mark v. 42.) it would rather be, like our present version, "astonished." As we might now say, the witnesses of the miracle were overcome with a great astonishment.

(And here we may mention, by the bye, that a reference to Wiclif's version of 1380, supplies yet a thirteenth "form," viz. abaischide.)

Probably, in the passage quoted under ABAYSTE, the sense contemplated by the author of the Promptorium was more clearly implied:

Syr Eglamour es noghte abayste, In Goddis helpe es alle his trayste. Again, under "ABAYST," the first example bears out the sense Disappointed;" but in the second,

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"It seems to be used for injured in the Morte d'Arthur, i. 366,-' He smote Syr Palomydes upon the helme thryes, that he abasshed his helme with his strokes.'"'

where a disregard to the primary or etymological sense creates the whole difficulty. In the very next line ABAST

"He

is explained as "Downcast," and so to abase was "to cast down." abasshed his helme "-" injured" it! he struck it down,-a bas, to the ground.

A still more glaring example, however, of Mr. Halliwell's want of etymological arrangement and connection is furnished by the cognate words abye and abide, of which his "forms" are almost endless, and his explanations sufficiently varied. Notwithstanding the space they will occupy, we can only show them fairly by extracting them:

"ABADE. (1) Abode; remained. (2) Delay.

ABAY. At bay.

ABBAY. To bay; to bark.
ABBIGGET. Expiate; pay for.
ABE'. To atone for.
ABECHED. Fed; satisfied.
ABEDE. Abode; remained.
ABEGE. To atone for.
ABEISAUNCE. Obedience.
ABESYANS. Obeisance.
ABEY. To abie.
ABEYD. To abide.

ABEYE. To bow; to obey.
ABEYSAUNCE. Obeisance. Skinner thinks
the proper form of the word is abeisance.
ABEYZEDOUN. Obeyed.

ABIDANCE. Tarrying; dwelling.
ABIDDEN. Endured.

ABIDE. (1) To persevere; to endure; to suffer. It is also another form of abie. (2) To forbear; to tolerate. ABIDYNGE. Patent.

ABIDYNGELY. Staying.
ABIE. To pay for; to expiate.
ABIGGEDE. Suffer.

ABIGGEN. To abie.

ABIST. Payest for it.
ABIT. Abideth.

ABITE. To atone for. (4) Abideth.
ABOADE. Abided; suffered; endured.
ABODE. (1) Delay. (2) Waited for.
ABOGHTEN. Suffered.
ABOOD. Remained.

ABOUGHT. Sometimes, atoned for, from abiggen.

ABOUGHWED. Bowed, obeyed.
ABUDE. To bid; to offer.
ABUE. To bow; to obey.
ABUGGEN. To abie.

ABUY. (1) To bow. (2) To abie.
ABUYзE. To abie.

ABYCHE. To suffer for.
ABYDDE. Abided.

ABYDE. To forbear.

ABYT. Abideth; continueth.
ABYYD. (1) Stay. (2) Suffer."

When to these "forms" our lexico

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